The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has, for the first time, detailed the charges involving 11 Greek MPs from the ruling New Democracy party, raising the legal stakes in a farm subsidy scandal that has already put the government under mounting pressure.
Although Parliament had already received the case file, the underlying offenses had not previously entered the public domain. That has now changed, as European prosecutors set out the legal grounds for seeking the lifting of immunity for the 11 sitting lawmakers.
At the same time, the MPs named in the file and their legal teams are combing through thousands of pages of case material as they prepare their defense. The dossier includes detailed legal analysis, along with references to disputed conversations recorded through lawfully authorized surveillance.
European Prosecutor opens immunity process for Greek MPs
The next step will come on Holy Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., when the 11 MPs are due to appear before the Ethics Committee of Greece’s Parliament to respond to the contents of the file.
Parliament must first waive their immunity before prosecutors can move ahead with criminal proceedings and other investigative steps involving sitting lawmakers.
The process will then continue beyond Thomas Sunday, when the full chamber is expected to meet and decide the matter in a public roll-call vote.
European Prosecutor’s charges against Greek MPs include felony and misdemeanor counts
According to the legal reasoning submitted by European prosecutors, Parliament’s approval is required for offenses classified as both felonies and misdemeanors.
At felony level, the filing names Katerina Papakosta and Konstantinos Karamanlis in connection with alleged moral complicity in breach of trust against the financial interests of the European Union, in acts described as committed jointly or otherwise, and in repeated as well as non-repeated form. Papakosta also faces separate allegations of moral complicity in computer fraud and false certification.
At misdemeanor level, prosecutors also want authorization to proceed against Notis Mitarakis, Konstantinos Tsiaras, Konstantinos Skrekas, Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Dimitrios Vartzopoulos, Vasileios Vasileiadis, Maximos Senetakis, Christos Boukoros and Theofilos Leontaridis. In each case, prosecutors link the allegation to moral complicity in breach of trust against the EU’s financial interests.
Prosecutors say they need the immunity lift not only to file charges, but also to carry out investigative acts directly involving the lawmakers, including summonses to provide explanations.
EPPO says parliamentary immunity blocks the inquiry
The request also cites Article 29(1) of the EPPO Regulation, which allows the European Chief Prosecutor to seek the lifting of immunity when protections granted under national law obstruct a specific investigation.
On that basis, prosecutors argue that Parliament must waive immunity for the inquiry to move forward in relation to the following current members of the Greek Parliament:
- Katerina Papakosta, MP for Trikala since 2019;
- Konstantinos Karamanlis, MP for Serres since 2015;
- Ioannis Kefalogiannis, MP for Rethymno since 2012;
- Notis Mitarakis, MP for Chios since 2015;
- Konstantinos Tsiaras, MP for Karditsa since 2004;
- Konstantinos Skrekas, MP for Trikala since 2012;
- Dimitrios Vartzopoulos, MP for Thessaloniki since 2019;
- Maximos Senetakis, MP for Heraklion, Crete, since 2019;
- Vasileios Vasileiadis, MP for Pella since 2019;
- Christos Boukoros, MP for Magnesia since 2015; and
- Theofilos Leontaridis, MP for Serres since 2019.